• DOI:10.1038/NM1095-1046
• Corpus ID: 24752850

Discovery of betulinic acid as a selective inhibitor of human melanoma that functions by induction of apoptosis

@article{Pisha1995DiscoveryOB,
  title={Discovery of betulinic acid as a selective inhibitor of human melanoma that functions by induction of apoptosis},
  author={Emily Pisha and Hee-byung Chai and Ik-Soo Lee and Tangai E. Chagwedera and N. R. Farnsworth and Geoffrey A. Cordell and Chris Beecher and Harry H. S. Fong and A. Douglas Kinghorn and Daniel M. Brown and Mansukh C. Wani and Monroe E. Wall and Tina J Hieken and Tapas K. Das Gupta and John M. Pezzuto},
  journal={Nature Medicine},
  year={1995},
  volume={1},
  pages={1046-1051}
}

• E. Pisha, H. Chai, +12 authors J. Pezzuto
• Published 1 October 1995
• Medicine
• Nature Medicine

As a result of bioassay–guided fractionation, betulinic acid, a pentacyclic triterpene, was identified as a melanoma–specific cytotoxic agent. In follow–up studies conducted with athymic mice carrying human melanomas, tumour growth was completely inhibited without toxicity. As judged by a variety of cellular responses, antitumour activity was mediated by the induction of apoptosis. Betulinic acid is inexpensive and available in abundant supply from common natural sources, notably the bark of white birch trees. The compound is currently undergoing preciinicai development for the treatment or prevention of malignant melanoma.